Mercedes introduced a series of updates to its W13 at the Spanish Grand Prix in the hope of making a radical single-seater with almost no sidepods a winning car in the 2022 Formula 1 season. From the first moment at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya , the Germans had a great pace, worthy of having been able to get the victory with Lewis Hamilton, and fought for the podium positions with George Russell.
However, they received a harsh reality check in Monaco with the bumpy layout and repeated porpoising. In the Principality they suffered throughout the weekend, although as the races went by they could already see their faces at certain times with Red Bull and Ferrari.
After a date at Silverstone where they fought for victory with their seven-time world champion until the final laps, the Austrian Grand Prix could be the litmus test to return to the top.
In the garage of the silver arrows they believed so, as its technical director, Mike Elliott , recognized: “I think it has been seen that in general we have been better in the races than in the classification”.
“Had we qualified well, or at least shown good pace in qualifying before the crashes, we would have expected to be quick in the [sprint and main] races, and what we saw on Sunday was encouraging for us,” the Briton insisted.
“On a circuit that hasn’t worked in our favor in the past, being two or three tenths off the lead was really good compared to what we’ve seen recently,” he continued. “We have two fantastic drivers, and Lewis [Hamilton] is always going to bring home the best result he can get from the car.”
“On Friday, we were buoyed by the pace we had, and in qualifying we thought we had a great chance to be on the front row of the grid,” Elliott said.
The two accidents in Q3 of both Mercedes prevented their drivers from being in the front, but from the German garage they affirm that their W13 can achieve those results in the future.
“It was a position we haven’t found ourselves in in the last few races, and possibly that’s why we ended up with two crashes, the drivers were trying to find that extra in the car, trying to get us on the front row of the grid. the potential pace that we think we have in that car,” said the technical director.
Speaking about Sunday’s feature race itself, the English engineer explained that although they are a couple of tenths off the leaders and not their target for this season, they were making steps forward.
“We were two or three tenths behind the Ferrari, which was the fastest car in the race this weekend, and although it’s not our target, we want to be fighting at the front, we want to have the fastest car we can this year. “, he indicated.
“I think it’s a good result for us and it shows that the parts we are bringing to W13 are starting to make the step forward that we want to make. I hope we can continue to make those advances and get to a position where we can compete with the leaders. every race,” said Mike Elliott.
Do you want to read our news before anyone else and for free? Follow us here on our Telegram channel and you won’t miss a thing. All the information, at your fingertips!
